My name is Emerson and I own a 1992 Nissan 240sx and took my car on a 4,000 mile road trip. A car that has always been in some state of despair and needing who knows what replaced. With questionable reliability I decided to head up to Colorado on a two week long camping trip. Now the only question remains, just how many times will this damn thing break down.
First things first is prepping the car, primarily checking all the fluid, air up the tires (including the spare), and insure you have your emergency jack with you. I also had a full set of tools packed as well, it’s an old car.
Putting in fresh fluid for those downhill mountain passes.
Full fluid check: oil, coolant, power steering, and brakes.
Despite the 240sx effectively being a 2 seater, there is plenty of cargo room with a hatchback including space for a mountain bike. Which can serve double duty if my car breaks down on some hidden forest road.
My first day of driving out of Austin, Texas was rather boring even though my plans were changing by the hour. I had business to take care and a few thing to square away before I left and my plan to leave a few hours after breakfast turned into leaving after lunch. With 14 hours of drive time to the nearest Colorado city I left, and here we go!
After a few hours of driving I would take breaks to help with the fatigue of long drives. My first stop was just south of Goldthwaite at a rest stop that overlooked San Saba Peak.
Well here is where my plans first changed, while the GPS part of your phone will always work, your data connection won’t, even with a big name retailer. I found out that there is a section of 183 near Early, Texas almost two hours long, where I have no service. Largest coverage in the nation my ass.
So I ended up missing a turn and found myself about 50 miles east of where I wanted to be. Lovely. Well now that I had a internet connection again I tried searching for a campsite near by with no luck. It’s not even 5pm yet so I set Amarillo, Texas as my next goal to reach.
By this point it was just after 7pm so I stopped for dinner at the next rest stop know as 6666 Ranch.
6666 Ranch rest stop
My portable kitchen, small and convenient
The last Texas sunset I'd see for the next two weeks.
Night eventually fell after nothing but fast 2-lane roads and a day of semi-trucks passing me at 80 MPH. By now I have decided that I’m just driving until I feel the need to sleep. Well as my ‘ever changing by the hour plans’ would have it I ended up hitting some severe thunderstorms just outside of Hedley, Texas and well my plans changed. Storms out in the Texas plains can get fierce and this was no exception. With winds that would shove my car around and water standing in the road from the immense downpour I found that not even 30 MPH was safe; despite the 70mph posted speed limit. After 20 minutes I made it through the storm and was able to resume normal highway speeds.
Eventually I found a rest stop; tired and stressed from driving through the storm I called it a night and decided that I would just sleep in the car. Well right as I’m closing my eyes my phone starts to screech with a weather alert: “Tornado Watch in effect for the next three hours.” Ugh, I pull up the weather radar for the area and realize the storm I had just drove through was making it’s way to where I had intended to sleep. Not wanting to risk sleeping in my car with a hellacious storm overhead, I hit the road again towards Amarillo. Only about an hour away and as it wasn’t in the effected watch area. Finally after midnight I fell asleep. At least the first day of my journey wasn’t ended by a tornado.